Tuesday, August 23, 2011

I felt my first earthquake today, and it was something else! We girls were playing at a splash park - think of a (concrete) area with sprinklers and mini geysers. Julia and Evelyn had stopped playing to have a snack, so they were sitting on their towels on the ground. I was sitting on a bench, but my bare feet were on the ground.

Next thing we know, we felt these vibrations from the ground. At first we all thought it was a big truck driving by, but then the rumbling didn't stop. Plus, as I looked around, the picnic bench, table and umbrella were all moving, AND the fence around the splash park was moving, too! It was such an odd sensation - like nothing I've ever felt before.

We were with a few friends, and one of the moms is from California. She quickly confirmed that we were feeling an earthquake...and she thought it was all very exciting. Actually, I did too. We were in a relatively safe place - outside, not around any buildings or tall structures. Troy felt it at work, too, and he said the shelves in the lab were rocking back and forth. Our next-door neighbor (who works in DC) said pictures from the walls and light fixtures from the ceilings were falling down, so it must have been stronger east of us.

Oh, and we had California mom go try and shake the fence, because we wanted to see how much force it would take to do that. She couldn't get it to budge. Earthquakes are pretty amazing!